Celebrating a Decade of Playful Past Exploration
I’m thrilled to help organize The Interactive Pasts Conference 4 (TIPC4). TIPC4 takes place in Leiden from October 8–10, 2025. It marks a special milestone: the tenth anniversary of VALUE’s journey exploring archaeology, history, games, and heritage in creative collaboration. TIPC4’s focus is on openness, inclusion, and collaboration. If you’ve ever wondered what games can teach us about the past—or how heritage can shape gameplay—this conference is the place to be.
Theme and Program Highlights
“The Fellowship of Past and Play” isn’t just a catchy title. It captures the collaborative, exploratory spirit that runs through the entire event. This is not a typical academic conference with neatly divided sessions and formal keynotes. Instead, TIPC4 brings together people from across disciplines and backgrounds to rethink how we engage with the past—through games, technology, memory, and storytelling. Whether you’re a PhD student designing an experimental board game, a heritage professional using VR, or a developer drawing on indigenous histories. This conference gives your ideas a stage and a supportive community.
I already made an annoucement, but now we have a programme ready. The program reflects that openness: October 8 is dedicated to workshops and hands-on collaboration, while October 9–10 feature papers, panels, and interactive showcases. Expect traditional talks alongside unexpected formats—live demos, co-creative sessions, and game critiques that blur the lines between academic reflection and playful practice.
Seriously Playful: A Different Kind of Conference
What sets TIPC4 apart isn’t just the theme—it’s the atmosphere. This is a conference where serious academic work meets playful experimentation. The tone is informal but committed, and the boundaries between speaker and audience often dissolve into collaborative dialogue. You’re just as likely to find yourself discussing archival theory over a board game session as you are presenting a paper on medieval mechanics in modern RPGs.
Over the years, The Interactive Pasts Conference has become a welcoming space for people who think sideways. People who see history not just as something to be studied, but something to be experienced, simulated, questioned, and played. VALUE’s mission has always been to make heritage more open, inclusive, and engaging. TIPC4 continues that tradition with a spirit of curiosity and co-creation.
Why I’m Involved & What to Expect
As a board member of VALUE, I’m proud to support a conference that fosters creative crossovers between researchers and practitioners. TIPC4 celebrates where games, heritage, and scholarship meet—and invites new voices into the conversation. Actually, TIPC4 is my first TIPC ever, as I never managed to take part in this event. This year however, I will be there and help out (although I will not present myself). In any case the event always sounded like so much fun, that I am really looking forward to it. I will also take a lot of pictures and report afterwards to see if my expectations were met.